Sewing ....

... one of my favourite pastimes ... and a wonderful subject for a little tag or two ... The first tag I made for Tag Tuesday using a paper tag as pattern to cut some leftover calico. I 'aged' the calico around the edges with some Distress ink (Vintage Photo) and machine stitched across the tag just using the stitches I have on my machine ... it is quite a basic sewing machine but I love it to bits - well, actually, 'them' because I have two of the same (lol). I printed the really sweet image from Magic Moonlight Free images and sewed it to the calico - the lady works on a very similar sewing machine my Grandma owned. My Grandma was a seamstress and I learned from her on her Singer machine the first stitches.  At last I added a few embellishments - buttons, charm and flowers - and did a teeny tiny bit of hand stitching for buttons and charm ...

 

 I made the second tag for a friend who recently moved into her new home. I cut the house and flowers by hand. The house ia build of felt and has an embossed kraft card roof. For the sewing bit I shand stitched the frames of the little windows. This was great fun to make - you might see some more of those soon (lol).

Have a lovely weekend, Petra.

Sankt Nikolaus Mitten

Inspired by Nancy's tutorial for the 12 Days of Whimsy I created a Sankt Nikolaus mitten using burlap, tartan cotton fabric and felt. The image at the front is a Santa Claus from the Graphics Fairy which I had printed previously ... luckily because when trying to print a new image the printer cartridge was out of ink (sigh).
I cut the image and covered it with clear accents and added a little bit of glitter. The finishing touches are pompon and tartan ribbon and a little jingle bell. Petra.

Gingerbread Christmas

What would Christmas be without Gingerbread? Gingerbread (or Lebkuchen in German) as we know it today came originally from Belgium in the 13th Century. It was introduced into Germany through the city of Aachen. Lebkuchen is a traditional little Christmas cake, the ones best known are from the area of Nuernberg. If you would like to read a little bit more about the history, the German Food Guide lists some interesting details.
Lebkuchen come in all sorts of different shapes and disguises including gingerbread men, women and children
These are made of felt from Lupin Handmade, handcut, hand-stitched and embellished with embroidery thread, ribbon and gingham fabric ... unfortunately non-edible ... sigh what a shame ... but the chocolates are (lol). Have a wonderful Christmas, Petra.x

Linked to: City Crafter Challenge
Paper Play Challenges
The Shabby Tea Room

Altered Matchbox - inside

Sarah has received her little altered matchbox so I can now reveal what was inside:
some chocolate, a little card and, of course, a little Gingerbreadman (lol)
I took the pattern from a cookie cutter ... he is proudly 3.5 cm tall! He is made of lovely wool felt which I got from Lupin Handmade and handstitched through and throug. Have a lovely afternoon, Petra.